The Housekeeper's Tale
by Mestizaa
Summary: The Doctor meets another Scottish girl.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is _supposed_ to be a collection of five times Mrs Hughes encounters the Doctor. I wanted to wait until I finished each part before posting; unfortunately, it's been gathering dust on my hardrive since May. So far, I've written 2.5/5... I _want_ to finish this because I'm really quite fond of it. Just don't go expecting regular updates or anything...

Thank you Hogwarts Duo for beta-ing this...6 months ago.

* * *

_One_

She first sees him when she is eleven year old and she is hiding at the top of a tree. She isn't hiding from anybody in particular, for she is hiding from the rest of the world.

From her vantage point among the thicket of leaves, she feels like she can see the whole world and anything that it might throw her way. She can see far across the fields and hills, and off to the distance is her home. She closes her eyes and she listens to the sounds the wind carries. Birds chirping, leaves rustling... By now she recognizes all of them and it brings her peace.

Except one.

A rhythmic wheezing, pulsating below her.

It gets louder and louder, and closer and closer and the wind around her starts to blow faster and faster, harder and harder, and she wants to look _so badly. _It's like something is calling her name, something is calling to the far reaches of her mind. It's something old, something familiar. But the more it pulls on her, the more she resists, and she can't bring herself to do it.

And then it's over. Almost like it never even happened.

She opens her eyes and slowly loosens her grip on the branch below her. She cranes her neck to see from where the strange sound originated. Her eyes dart across the landscape, and she can discern its origins. Then, from the corner of her eye, she sees a blue box materialize under her. She retreats further into the tree, taking refuge in the leaves, watching silently as a door creaks open.

A man steps out wearing a tweed jacket with a faint striped pattern, a checked shirt with a blue bow tie and braces. His black pants are too short for him; they are rolled up around the ankle, showing off his leather boots.

He takes a deep breath and grimaces. "Scotland? You brought me to Scotland?" he exclaims incredulously at the box. The door slams shut. The box almost seemed... annoyed.

She is so engrossed in the mysterious man that she doesn't notice a squirrel rushing past her. Startled, she jumps, and a stifled yelp escapes her lips. The man turns sharply on his heel, reaches into his pocket and pulls out a metal stick. He presses a button and points it directly at her.

"Come down at once!" he commands.

She sees the creases in his forehead and his set jaw and she knows that he is serious. In three quick motions she is down. She runs her hands over her skirts to smooth them out. She bites her lip to keep her nervousness from showing through.

He walks in a circle around her, waving his metal stick up and down. "Elevenish, brown hair, brown eyes..." he stops in front of her and puts the stick away. He leans down to her level and looks her straight in the eye. He has as distinct look that says that something is so close, just out of reach, but he can't quite grasp it. "What is your name?"

"Elsie Hughes."

She must have said something right because he grins stupidly and waves his arms hysterically. "Elsie Hughes? You're Elsie Hughes?" He jumps back and claps his hands. "Oh that's brilliant! The TARDIS probably sent me here to find you. Always taking me where I need to be..." During his rambling, he had made his way back to his box and was now stroking its side. Elsie averts her gaze, suddenly feeling as though she was intruding on a private moment. "I'm sorry Old Girl," he cooed. "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

He spun back around and pulled a photograph from his pocket. "I'm looking for a girl. Her name is Clara, sometimes Oswin, always Oswald. She looks like this." He shoves the coloured photograph in her face. "Probably. She might be older or younger..." he slaps his forehead. "I hadn't considered that."

Elsie remains frozen, watching the strange man rant and rave with a weary eye. He finally takes a breath and pauses. A dark cloud passes over his eyes, extinguishing the twinkle that had been there for a brief moment.

"You're scared of me."

She nods slowly.

"Why?"

"You are a madman with a box," she says carefully. "Anything can happen."

He considers this, and then laughs. It is hollow. The twinkle hadn't returned. "Oh Little Miss Elsie Hughes, always the pragmatist. You are going to do so many wonderful things."

She wrings her hands in front of her. "And how do you know that?"

"I'm a time traveling alien," he shrugs as if it should have been obvious.

"Oh."

He reaches across and pats her awkwardly on the head. "I must run now. I've got places to be, people to see. Universes to save... The usual."

And with that he snaps his fingers and the door swings open. He turns triumphantly on his heel and steps through the door. He turns back around and salutes her. "Until next time, Elsie Hughes."

As quickly and easily as it had appeared, the box vanishes. Elsie stands dumbfounded for minutes after, until she hears her mother's call being carried by wind.


	2. Chapter 2

_Two_

When she sees him again, the tree is taller and so is she. It has been years since Elsie has climbed a tree – respectable young lady's duties include cooking, cleaning, and darning of socks. They most definitely exclude climbing. And even if it were acceptable, her corset and multitude of layers that she wore made it impossible. These days, she can still be found at her tree, but she is more likely to be sitting with her back to the trunk and a book in her lap than up in the branches.

She has long since given up on reading. Her thoughts are muddled and her concentration is shot. Her book lies forgotten on the grass next to her. Her legs are curled in front of her, one arm holding them close under mountain of skirts. The other held a small stick that she uses to furiously dig a hole in the ground.

She hears the distinct sound of the blue box. The sound that she has listened for, but hadn't heard again until now. The sound that she hadn't realized she remembered.

The box appears a few feet in front of her. He pokes his head out and she feels her heart stop beating.

"You're back." She blinks. He's wearing the same outfit as he did those many years ago. "Don't you ever change?"

He frowns as he steps out. "I've been here before?" He spins around, taking everything in. "Wait. Don't answer that. Answer this, who are you?"

"Elsie Hughes," Remembering her manners, she rises to her feet. "Pleased to meet you, Mister – " She trails off. It dawns on her that she doesn't know his name.

"Doctor," he corrects absently. A huge grin plasters itself across his face and he practically leaps towards her to give her a hug. "Imagine that, Mrs Elsie Hughes. You are so _young_." Her eyebrow arches slightly at his comment. He takes a step back to look at her, but keeps his hands at her shoulders. "You have your whole life in front of you. You are going to be brilliant."

She feels like throwing up.

"Miss," she corrects sharply. "I am not married, nor am I a housekeeper or a cook."

"I seem to be meeting people in the wrong order a lot these days..." He scratches his head. "You will be Mrs Hughes yet!" he says with conviction, a finger waving in the air. "I probably shouldn't have said that."

A strange man from her childhood, the man who lived in the foggy bits of her memory, who fell from the sky, is telling her that she can do anything. She can be anybody.

And for whatever reason, that excites him.

"I could be Mrs Burns one day," she interjects. Her future is not set in stone. She can decide to say yes to the proposal if she decides, just like she can decide to become a housemaid instead of a wife.

It's a mystery to her as to why she even cares if he knows it or not. It really is none of his business.

"You're engaged?" His joy is back and stronger than ever. "I do love a good wedding! All the dancing and the cake and ritualistic ceremonies! You know, Mrs Hughes, I have never been to a wedding that ended in complete disaster. Except perhaps my own... but you know, those did mostly end relatively alright..." He trails off and shakes his head, gathering his racing thoughts. "When is the big day?"

In that moment she realizes her answer because there is a feeling of dread that she gets when she thinks about the rest of her life and forever. Joe is a nice man, a very nice man, she can see what her life will be like, and it terrifies her. The world is so vast, so big; she doesn't know where she fits but she knows she doesn't fit with him.

"I don't think it will ever come to pass," she finally admits, to the Doctor and to herself. She's not meant to become Mrs Burns; she _wants_ to become Mrs Hughes.

"Well that is a shame," he shrugs. She suddenly realizes how small and insignificant her life must be to him. "What are you doing this afternoon?"

She shrugs. The rest of her life was suddenly free.

"I'm looking for adventure. Want to come along?"

"Where are you going?" she eyes him warily.

"Don't you see? That's the beauty of it! We can go absolutely anywhere!"

His excitement is catching. The way his eyes light up and how his hands flail to emphasize his point. He can take her anywhere... to another time, another place. He can take her out of Scotland into the sky and back if she desired.

She wants to follow him into that strange blue box. She wants to get out of Scotland and see the cosmos. She want to sail away into the stars. She can almost taste the freedom.

But she wouldn't be free, not really. Not if she left like this. She would hate herself forever if she did.

"I'm sorry," she says softly. "I can't just leave like this. I owe it to Joe."

"Oh, that's fine," he shrugs. He may not fully understand her decision, but he respects it nonetheless.

"Maybe next time?" she perks up.

The twinkle in his eyes vanishes for a moment. "There may not be a next time."

She reaches for his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. "You never know, Doctor. Anything can happen."

He turns towards his blue box and she calls out after him. She is suddenly remembers a hazy conversation from so long ago, a conversation from a dream. She pauses, unsure of how to proceed.

"Did you ever find the girl you were looking for?"

He frowns. "What do you mean?"

Elsie takes a step back. She has said too much. Her words are out in the world and she can't retract them. "Nothing never mind."

Still frowning, he tilts his head, and she silently prays for him to let it go. Thankfully, he does with clear reluctance.

"Well I suppose this is it, Miss Hughes," he extends a hand.

"Until next time, Doctor," She takes it in hers, and giggles when he gives it a firm shake. "Who knows? By then, I might be Mrs Hughes."

It is only after the box vanishes that she allows herself to smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N:_** Gasp. An update? What is this?_**  
**_

Thank you for your patience.

* * *

_Three_

The third time is a surprise. He sees her before she seems him. She hadn't realized that she had forgotten him until he appeared again.

Elsie Hughes has been acquainted with time for a very long time. It flits by silently in the hopes of not getting caught. The only evidence it leaves behind is the faint trace of a crow's footprints in the corners of her eyes. How much can time change a person?

She takes a step on the dirt path back towards Downton, carefully turning the small doll in her hand. This evening had been... enlightening.

Joe is just like she remembered. He's kind; he makes her laugh.

Sometimes she wonders how life could have been. How would it have been if she had said yes. Would they have been happy? Would she have come resent him? Would they have grown apart? Or would they have grown together?

How much has life altered them? Are they different now than they were then? Are they _too _different?

Can they be happy now?

She tries not to dwell on it because there was always a reason behind her decisions. Their is a nagging voice in the back of her mind that reminds her that her reasons from 20 years ago might not necessarily hold up today.

She wonders.

"Mrs Hughes?" she looks up sharply at the voice. The blue box is unmistakable. But the man dressed in a brown pinstripe suit, hair spiked in all directions, is unfamiliar to her. And yet, there is something about him.

"Doctor?" It can't possibly be him. His face is different, but then again, so is hers.

He smiles goofily and jumps over and gives her a great big crushing hug.

She pulls away slightly and takes him in. His nose is longer, his jaw sharper, his eyes are wilder but somehow younger.

"Your face," she notes. She blinks, and reaches up and gently brushes her hand over his face, tracing ever line. Even though his face looked older, he almost seemed younger than she remembered. She pulls her hand back in wonder. "it's changed."

A storm passes through his eyes. "I do that sometimes."

"What are you doing here?"

"Heading to the carnival, though I think I might have come a bit to late,. I was never very good at being on time" he taps his watch. "I'm living a little before I have to go."

_She wonders._

"You owe me a ride," she blurts.

He frowns. "I do?"

She nods, unsurprised that he has forgotten. It's been a long time.

* * *

He shows her the stars, takes her into the sky, to a place she didn't know existed.

He brings her to the burning glaciers of New Banffia. Everything about it is so impossible and she pinches herself to make sure she isn't lost in a dream. There are doors that swing open by themselves, women wearing pants, and s_he is on another planet_ where the ice has been on fire for a millennium.

The world is so vast, and it has changed _so much_. And it's absolutely beautiful.

But it can also be absolutely terrible.

An entire village destroyed by one man's greed.

It could have been so much worse had they not been there to eliminate the immediate threat. The virus that had infected the indigenous people's way of life.

Afterwards, her heart is still palpitating and her hands are still shaking, and the Doctor is jumping around the consoles ready for his next adventure. He's a child who wants a puzzle. He runs around the universe swooping in at the last second with a diagnosis that will fix everything. But it doesn't fix everything, far from it.

"How are they going rebuild?" she finally asks.

He waves a hand. "They'll figure it out. Humans always do. Amazing creatures, that lot."

She feels the fury building in her chest. "Just because it happens often does not make it alright. We are responsible for part of that mess. Shouldn't we be helping them clean up?"

He stops and turns to her, the impish gleam in his eye extinguished. "It is not my place to interfere like that."

He is the Doctors; she is the Housekeeper. She stays hidden in the shadows while she makes the house function. She cleans up messes, she makes sure everybody knows their roles and that everything runs smoothly. She puts out fires before they are noticed.

She does not belong in the stars.

* * *

She steps out into her sitting room and watches silently as the Doctor vanishes from her life. Wringing her hands and biting her lip, she hopes that she has made the right decision.

Her door bursts open and Mr Carson pokes his head in. "I've put out the Rundell candlesticks for dinner tonight."

Mrs Hughes nods absently.

Sensing it is a bad time, that something is bothering her, he starts to retreat. "Sorry, I'll come back later."

She turns to face him. "No, stay. Please. I've got something I'd like to talk to you about."

They all have their roles to play, and this is hers.

She chose this life.

And she wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
